First Comes Love
by Nike
Summary: Sooner or later, Adrien's going to ask Marinette to marry him. He just thought it would be sooner, not later.


Note: This is my Miraculous Secret Santa gift for ladyserendipitous over on tumblr. I hope you like it!

* * *

 **First Comes Love**

Sunday was Date Night. Sort of. Marinette suspected any time from when they woke up to when they went to bed on Sunday was Date Night in Adrien's book, based on the number of times Marinette had woken up to breakfast in bed or had a romantic picnic lunch. Also, one Sunday a month they had dinner with Marinette's parents.

Adrien had always loved having dinner with her parents. Even now, Adrien still seemed to be in awe of Marinette's family and the way they included him. It made her feel sad and fond all at once just to see his expression at being part of a family. She certainly had no complaints about one Date Night a month being with her parents. She wouldn't have seen them nearly so often after moving in with Adrien if Adrien hadn't insisted on the arrangement.

'He's so good to me,' Marinette thought indulgently as she watched Adrien and her father share horrible jokes while she and her mother exchanged looks and eye rolls. She'd put up with bad jokes as long as Adrien was genuinely happy and laughing and smiling.

"Oh! Oh! Here's a good one!" Tom insisted. "I forgot to turn the oven off but it's okay. I just ended up with some Darth Vader cookies - a little on the dark side."

Adrien burst out laughing even as Tom nudged his daughter.

"Come on, sweetie, you used to laugh at that one all the time."

"Maybe back when I was on a Star Wars kick," Marinette mumbled, pressing her cup to her lips so she didn't reveal the way her lips wanted to twitch into a smile.

"Oh, I remember that," Sabine stated. "I'm pretty certain we still have pictures of you dressed up as Princess Leia."

"Really?" Adrien asked, perking up.

"I was, like, _five_ ," Marinette stated quickly before her kitty cat got any ideas about metal bikinis.

"No, no!" Adrien verbally backtracked, hands in the air. "I mean, you have pictures? From when you were little?"

Marinette winced at the reminder of how few pictures Adrien even had of his family and how posed and pretentious most of the ones he did have were. Of course he'd be interested in her family's candid photos. Then she noticed the matching gleam in her parents' eyes and turned wary.

"Of course we do! Oh, Tom, we haven't shown him the family photo album yet!"

"We'll have to remedy that immediately! You're done eating, right?" Tom asked, standing to clear the table even as Sabine disappeared, no doubt to find the photo album.

"Um, yeah?" Adrien replied.

"No!" Marinette insisted. Adrien gave her a look but she kept going. "You are not going to be showing him that!"

"Aw, come on, Princess. I bet you were a cute little bug," Adrien teased.

Marinette elbowed him for edging too close to their secret identities even as she whined, "But it's embarrassing!"

She knew she'd miscalculated when a look of unholy glee appeared on her kitten's face. It was a look she saw more on Chat's face than on Adrien's, never mind that they were the same person. It always showed up right before he did something she knew she'd regret witnessing, either because it was awesomely dangerous, amazingly stupid, or involved the worst pun ever. Usually all three.

"You had the bun hair, didn't you? Did you use your actual hair or did you borrow some buns from the bakery?" Adrien teased.

Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"Hey," Adrien stated in a softer tone, pulling her hands from her face. "I embarrass myself in front of you all the time and you've never stopped loving me. I promise, no matter how embarrassing these pictures are, I'll never stop loving you."

Oh, now that just wasn't fair, Marinette thought as she felt a blush creep up her cheeks. Why'd her alley cat have to go and be all _cute_ and _romantic_? All too aware of her parents' smirks, Marinette firmed up her backbone, set her chin, and pulled Adrien up with her as she stood.

"Let's get this over with," she declared as she led her boyfriend to the couch. They were soon set up; Adrien was in the middle with the photo album on his lap and Marinette and her mother on either side with her father hovering over the back because he was too big to otherwise fit.

It... wasn't as bad as she'd feared. Oh, there were embarrassing bits, like the picture of toddler!her taking a bubble bath or the Princess Leia outfit, complete with buns borrowed from the bakery that she'd obviously taken at least one bite out of, but the rest were just memories. Not even necessarily her memories, she realized when her maman stopped on a picture of Tom on his knees presenting a ring to a crying Sabine.

"Was that... recreated?" Adrien asked in an uncertain tone. Marinette entwined her fingers with his and gave his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back.

"No, dear. Tom actually had a photographer hidden nearby to take pictures the moment he asked for my hand," Sabine stated with a fond and loving look up at Tom.

"What can I say? I wanted to be able to keep that moment in my pocket next to my heart for the rest of my days," Tom responded with a pat to his chest, right where Marinette knew he kept a few pictures in a hidden pocket. "I still do."

"I... if you don't mind... I never really got to ask my own parents but... how did you meet? How did you... know? You know?" Adrien asked. Marinette gave him a fond smile even as she pressed herself against his side.

"Well, we met at Le Cordon Bleu," Tom replied with a small, reminiscent smile. "For my part, I knew the moment I saw a little spitfire show up two bullies who'd hoped to get her to drop out of the program. I thought to myself, Tom, you better not let this one get away."

"So you both knew right away?" Adrien asked, wide-eyed and softly smiling.

"Oh, no. I hated Tom at first," Sabine stated cheerfully. "You see, even now, people aren't always kind to those they perceive as being 'foreign', never mind I was raised here from a fairly early age. So I was determined to be the best and show up all the people who thought I couldn't do it. I was going to top the class when it came to breads and pastry. So it was more than a little upsetting when the teacher kept marking Tom's pastries as better than mine. I even accused the teacher of racism. He responded by having me try Tom's work. I nearly cried because it _was_ better than mine."

"Wow," Adrien said, wide-eyed. "So... how did you get together then?"

"Well, while Sabine admitted I was better at pastries, I pointed out she was better at bread and the business aspects than I was and suggested we go into business together after graduating."

"It was a bit of a risk - most places specialize in one or of the other - but it worked out brilliantly. Tom asking me to open a business together raised him up in my esteem and the business kept us busy, enough so that Tom insisted we take one day off a week and just do something fun to relax. It went on like that for _months_. I didn't even realize we were dating until my _n_ _ă_ _inai_ asked when my French gentleman was going to ask for my hand on one of my monthly calls to the family."

"I remember when she stormed up to me and demanded to know if we'd been dating all this time," Tom chuckled. "I told her they were only dates if she wanted them to be. She kissed me and said I needed to step up my romance game. Our next day off, I brought her flowers and kissed her goodnight. And, well, you can see the end results." Tom placed a hand on his wife and daughter's shoulders.

Marinette could see the stars in Adrien's eyes. Her hopeless kitty was a romantic through and through. Although what he said next made her blush and swat her stupid cat.

"I certainly appreciate a certain result," Adrien stated as he gave Marinette a deliberate once over. Tom's laughter rang out when Marinette decided swatting wasn't punishment enough and went for the tickle war.

Later, after many laughs and everyone was safely in bed, Adrien called out, "Marinette?"

"Hm?" she replied, already on her way to dreamland.

"How would you feel about starting a similar photo album?"

"That sounds nice," she murmured. "Night, kitty." She then pressed a sleepy kiss to his lips and drifted off.

* * *

It was decided. Adrien Agreste was going to ask Marinette Dupain-Cheng to marry him.

The idea of asking Marinette had been on his mind since the family dinner where he learned how Tom and Sabine had gotten together. He wanted that. He wanted her and he wanted to be hers. He wanted to be by her side for however long she would let him be, forever if possible. He wanted marriage and kids and the whole deal. He was willing to be the stay-at-home dad to any little ones they had while Marinette took the fashion world by storm with her designs or even be a model as long as it was exclusively for her.

Adrien had thought her agreeing to move in with him in their apartment had been a coup. He'd been ecstatic for months. This, though, this was the next step. A way to let everyone know he was hers and she was his.

The idea of asking her hadn't left his mind at all, so he couldn't say he was terribly surprised when he ended up in a jewelry store. And then another after the first one was too pushy. And then another. In fact, he was starting to be frustrated by all the jewelry stores he'd been to this week.

The problem, Adrien reflected, was that everyone recognized him and started steering him towards the large stones. And it wasn't that he didn't want to buy Marinette the largest stone he could - and he could afford a very large stone indeed, unlike that one rude sales associate had implied - but that he knew for a fact Marinette wouldn't wear it. Oh, for special occasions, certainly, but not all the time.

The ring couldn't have any protrusions that could catch while Marinette was sewing or rapidly dressing models for the runway. And it had to be sleek enough to fit under the glove without any noticeable bulge when she transformed into Ladybug. It couldn't be outside; Adrien had a magic ring and he'd lost it far too many times during battle, so the idea of her losing hers... He shivered. Then there was the fact that people would notice if Paris's premiere superheroic couple had the same rings as a rising star in fashion. If they were lucky, people would brush it off as a lucky coincidence. Adrien tried not to plan things around luck, however. That was Ladybug's talent, not Chat Noir's. He couldn't exactly explain that to a jeweler, however.

So, almost a week after the dinner, Adrien found himself wandering from jewelry store to jewelry store and feeling a little disappointed that nothing was standing out to him. Then he saw it. In the window of a store advertising custom-made jewelry was a simple little confection made of silver wire that looped and whirled around two stones without ever quite touching. It reminded him of how he and Ladybug had once danced around each other. Problem was that it was a pendant but if the place could make a ring or, rather, a set of rings...

After a long chat with the jeweler where Adrien described what he wanted and why and the jeweler sketched out ideas and showed samples, they came across a design Adrien was thrilled with. It was perfect in Adrien's estimation. The four strands to represent them and their alter-egos, platinum for him and rose gold for her, in an intricate braid that showed how entwined they were. Missing a part would ruin the whole. Each would then be carefully flattened and polished so the rings had a low and sleek profile. All four rings - engagement and wedding for her, promise and wedding for him - would be made from the same braid of wire with hers carefully designed to fit together so they could be welded into one after the wedding while his would have bands around the edges to ensure his fit together.

Payment was made, a pickup date was arranged and Adrien left with a receipt and the pendant from the window in his pocket so he had an excuse when it got out that he'd been wandering jewelry stores. He had the rings, or would soon. Now, how was he supposed to ask her?

* * *

Adrien had managed to arrange reservations as the fanciest restaurant in all of Paris - and for the first time was actually rather thankful he was famous as the waiting list was horrendous - and for a photographer he was still friendly with to take pictures because Tom's idea was definitely worth repeating. He'd even gotten permission for a later-than-average visit to the Jardin du Palais Royal so they wouldn't be mobbed while he asked for Marinette's hand. It was going to be perfect. The only reason he wasn't doing it for Date Night tomorrow night was because the first of the rings, the oh so important engagement ring, wouldn't be done until at least Monday. So he'd set it for a week from Sunday and tomorrow, he decided, was going to be the their last Date Night as boyfriend and girlfriend because the next one would see them affianced.

At least that was the plan. A series of quick phone calls to cancel reservations and let various people know it wasn't happening occurred not long after Marinette got off the phone with her job on Saturday afternoon. This in turn resulted in Chat Noir and Paon sharing a rooftop together, Chat Noir upwind and carefully positioned just far enough that Paon's feathers wouldn't trigger his allergies.

"What happened, dude?"

"Scheduling conflict," Chat admitted, ears drooping.

"Scheduling conflict? Dude."

"I know! I forgot to make sure she had the day off! I just assumed and then..."

"Can't you just, you know, ask her to reschedule or something?" Paon wondered.

"Vera Wang is going to be in Paris and Marinette has been invited to attend the whole thing, lecture, meet and greet, send off, _everything_."

"Vera Wang? That sounds familiar."

"She's a very old American fashion designer. I didn't know she still traveled, honestly. But meeting her is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Marinette. What kind of partner would I be if I demanded she give it up just so I can ask her to marry me?"

"I hear ya, dude," Paon replied with a careful smile. "And I'll have a talk with my foxy lady before she gets her claws on you. I think she's under the impression you got cold feet."

"Never! I just... I lost the reservations and the photographer was an old friend who was doing it before flying to New York and then Milan - or was it Milan and then New York? - and I'm trying to come up with something just as perfect."

"How about sunrise at the Place du Trocadéro? I can vouch that it's romantic and I know your girl likes it. I've seen her sketching there often enough. And we both know she's probably never been awake early enough to see it at sunrise."

"Yeah! That's a great idea! Thanks!"

"You're welcome, bro."

* * *

Meeting Vera Wang had been amazing! Marinette would probably still be walking on cloud nine a week later, talking about the experience, if it weren't for one thing; she had artist's block.

She was inspired! She wanted to create! And she had so many ideas! Too many ideas. It seemed like every time she tried to grasp one, it would slip through her fingers right before another idea distracted her with the promise of being easy enough to catch and put down on paper. It was, in her opinion, the worst type of artist's block. People understood not having ideas or not having the time to get the ideas out, but only a true creative type understood the frustration of having too many ideas swimming around in their head while being unable to focus on just one, on having an idea and not being able to properly express it.

Thus, Marinette was not in a terribly good mood when Adrien roused her at an ungodly time in the morning that Sunday.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she whined as her boyfriend literally dragged her upright and out of bed.

"Because I have something to show you. And you promised you'd make it up to me for missing our last date night," Adrien replied with a pout that made her just want to kiss him before falling back into bed. Preferably with him. Still, a promise was a promise.

"Alright, I'm up. Go make coffee or something," she stated, only to blink in surprised when Adrien pressed a fresh cup right into her hands. "Huh?"

"I came prepared, Bugaboo. I know what it takes to get you moving," Adrien replied with a smirk before pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Go get ready for a day outside. I'm going to go make sure Plagg didn't sneak extra cheese into the picnic basket."

Picnic? This early? The sun wasn't even up yet. Unless... Marinette wasn't sure whether to groan or not. Only her kitty would think a picnic breakfast was a great idea. Still, she got ready and allowed him to lead her where ever it was they were going, nursing her third coffee with one hand while he tugged her along by her other.

Her eyebrows rose when she recognized the Place du Trocadéro before mentally shrugging. While she'd been expecting someplace somewhat greener, she wasn't about to protest breakfast at one of her favorite locations in the city. So she let her beautiful dork lay out a blanket and settled beside him on it before noticing dawn breaking on the city. It was perfect.

Her fingers twitched towards her purse. Tikki had taken the encroachment of her space by Marinette's sketchbook with an understanding expression and an encouraging, "Your artist's block will break soon, I know it!" Well, it had just broken.

A quick look at Adrien saw him focused on the picnic basket, so she slipped her notebook and pencil out of her bag, determined to do just a quick sketch while he was still setting up. It was just one idea, after all. Oh, what if she changed the stitching here and added a zipper there?

She didn't notice Adrien's look of fond exasperation. She barely noticed him pressing food and drink into her hand. She only noticed the jewelry box because it wasn't edible but she set it aside because, right now, everything was _flowing_ and she was determined to take full advantage. Adrien huffed and sighed beside her but eventually settled as a comfortable weight against her side.

When Marinette finally came up for air, she had an entire clothing line planned out in her sketchbook, a badly cramped hand, a sore butt because a blanket was not enough to soften the concrete, and a sleeping Adrien pillowing his head on her shoulder. The last made her smile fondly and she gave into the temptation to run her fingers through his hair. He stirred and yawned in response, blinking open sleepy eyes.

"You done?" he wondered softly.

"Yeah. Sorry for, you know, tuning you out. It's just, my art block broke in the best way possible."

"That's okay, I like watching you work. You get this cute furrow in your brow right between your eyes and you stick your tongue out," Adrien replied with a smirk before he pulled back with a wide yawn and a cat-like stretch. Then he bounced in place and asked, "So, are you going to open it?"

Open it? Oh, the box he'd handed her earlier. Marinette picked it up, noting that she didn't recognize the mark of the jeweler emblazoned on top of the little box, and opened it up only to gasp.

"Oh, Adrien, it's beautiful! Thank you!" she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Then she pulled back and turned around, pulling her hair away from her neck as she demanded, "Help me put it on."

With her back turned, she didn't see Adrien's expression turned from dazed to dismay as he realized he'd accidentally given her the wrong piece of jewelry. Still, he didn't hesitate to clip the delicate chain the pretty little pendant hung from around her neck. And he certainly had no complaints when she turned back around and kissed him very thoroughly. He'd just have to try again.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight; Marinette is getting in the way of you proposing," Alya attempted to confirm.

She and Adrien were sharing a late lunch at a cute little outdoor café. Adrien suspected Alya had chosen the place for its bubble tea as she was on her second one already. Still, he winced at her pronouncement.

"I wouldn't put it like that. She's not purposely doing anything. It's just my bad luck getting in the way."

Alya rolled her eyes and stated, "Fine. Let me put it another way. You're not on the same page so her good luck's not canceling out your bad luck."

"Oh. That, uh, sounds a bit more accurate," Adrien admitted as he rubbed the back of his head. He pointedly ignored Plagg's snort and Trixx's giggle.

Alya nodded and sipped her bubble tea through its straw while her brow furrowed contemplatively. Adrien let her think. While he was used to the whirlwind that was Alya's normal state, he'd known her for long enough now to recognize when she was plotting. She was actually the best on the team at planning after Marinette and Adrien himself. Heck, she was better at off-the-cuff planning than he was. Adrien still found himself freezing and following others if a plan fell through. And since his plans kept falling through and he couldn't follow his Lady's lead on this, Adrien would happily try whatever Alya suggested.

"I've got it!" Alya announced, slamming her cup on the table hard enough Adrien was surprised it didn't break. "My cousin has a nice restaurant near the center of town. I can get you last-minute reservations, no sweat. Your job is to make sure she gets there."

Alya pointed at Adrien, who nodded fervently.

"Good," she stated before continuing. "After a nice, candle-lit dinner, you suggest a romantic stroll to watch the sunset from Pont Alexandre III - it's close to the restaurant - and bam. You're both on the same page, she wants a romantic night as much as you, you give her the ring."

"Just like that?" Adrien asked, incredulously once he realized that was it.

"Just like that," Alya insisted. "Her good luck should take care of the rest."

"Okay," Adrien agreed with a shrug. "Let's do it."

"Good boy. I'll text the reservations to you."

* * *

Dinner had gone amazingly well, to Adrien's relief. The food was delicious, Marinette looked absolutely radiant, and Plagg had been bribed into submission. The last bit had been a necessity because the kwami had started to complain about Adrien paying more attention to a ring than to his kwami. The end result was that Adrien had a pocket full of smelly cheese but, so far, it had been worth it.

After the meal was paid for, Adrien helped Marinette to her feet before offering his arm.

"Would my Lady care for a stroll? The sun should be setting soon."

"I'd love to," Marinette replied, a pretty blush on her cheeks as he led her towards Pont Alexandre III. Alya had been right; watching the sunset with Marinette in his arms on the bridge was perfect. He almost hated pulling away so he could stick his hand in his pocket for the ring.

Adrien froze. Then he pulled his hand out of the slimy, cheese-filled pocket with a grimace. He quickly cleaned his hand with the handkerchief he'd brought along before giving a curious Marinette a sheepish grin.

"Excuse me," he apologized, "but I think I need to have a private conversation with my kwami."

"Alright. I wanted to let Tikki out for a bit anyway," Marinette easily agreed.

Adrien kept a pleasant smile on his face until he was a few feet away before he let his expression turn into a disgusted scowl. He then very carefully checked all of his pockets, only to find each one contained a stinky cheese bomb... and no ring.

"Plagg. Where's the ring?" Adrien quietly demanded to know of his kwami even as he sneaked nervous looks at Marinette, who was thankfully distracted by her conversation with Tikki.

"What ring?" was the rather infuriating answer.

"The one I'm supposed to be giving to the love of my life right now!" Adrien quietly hissed.

Plagg blinked slowly and asked, "The one in the black velvet box?"

"Yes!" Adrien gave Marinette a sheepish look as that had been a bit too loud. She gave her her 'silly kitty' look in return before resuming her quiet conversation with Tikki.

"Oh, that. It was taking up too much space in your pocket, so I took it out so I could fit in more of my precious Camembert."

"You... got rid... of the engagement ring.. for _cheese_?!" Adrien ground out between clenched teeth.

"Relax!" Plagg insisted, apparently aware of the danger he was now in as he quickly flew just out of Adrien's reach. "It's still in your room! Somewhere. I think."

Then he yelped when Adrien came for him. Adrien himself was only vaguely aware of the looks of exasperated amusement on Marinette and Tikki's faces as he charged past them, all too intent on catching the little cheese hog who'd just ruined his third attempt at proposing. A little too focused, apparently.

The leap was impressive, considering he wasn't Chat Noir at the time. Adrien had a brief moment of feeling the high of success now that he had Plagg clasped in his hands right before his stomach dropped as his leap flipped him over the railing.

Date night came to a rather abrupt end when a very unamused Ladybug had to fish her boyfriend out of the Seine. To add insult to injury, Plagg complained the whole way home about how the cheese in Adrien's pockets was ruined.

* * *

Something was up with Adrien. Honestly, Marinette was somewhat frustrated with herself for not noticing earlier. Adrien was fairly laid-back so him suddenly becoming angry enough with Plagg to take an accidental swan dive off a bridge couldn't have happened overnight. The fact that neither Adrien nor Plagg would say _why_ Adrien had been angry was also a big honking clue.

"You do know you can tell me anything, right?" Marinette inquired as she settled under the sheets. Adrien, fresh from his shower, gave her a confused look.

"Of course I do. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're not telling me what exactly happened back on the bridge."

Adrien winced and froze halfway on his way under the covers. He dropped his side of the sheets to rub the back of his head. Marinette just silently waited, not moving from where she laid in bed.

"I, uh... It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that I can't. Not yet. I _will_ , I promise. Just... give me some time first?"

"Alright," Marinette conceded before letting him know she wasn't going to drop it entirely. "Just don't take too long. I don't like that whatever this is has you and Plagg at odds with each other."

"Don't worry. It won't be much longer," Adrien replied as he finally got into bed with her. He kissed her forehead before adding, "I promise."

Marinette nodded and gave him a smile. She wasn't happy with him keeping secrets but they'd both had big ones before. She could wait.

* * *

"About time! You should've come to me first about proposing to Marinette! You can make it up to me by letting me plan the wedding," Chloé declared.

Adrien looked at the desk covered with plans for fancy fundraisers and charity balls before stating, "I can't ask that of you. You're already so busy."

"You're not asking, I'm telling. And I _like_ being busy."

"Busy as a bee."

"Ugh. Thank you for reminding me why you and Marinette are better off together," Chloé stated with a wrinkled nose, an expression that was matched by her kwami, Flittig. "Also, I don't trust you to plan a wedding. Knowing you, I bet you think all you have to do is show up at a church and say 'I do'."

Adrien rubbed the back of his head and forced a smile because he had kind of thought that.

"Still... I'm sure Marinette has some plans."

"Oh dear Lord, no! She turns into a chicken with her head cut off when forced to do long-term planning! Bad enough she's going to be stressing out over her dress. You know as well as I do she'll insist on making her own. No, I'm doing it. And if you're really worried I won't have the time, I'll have sweet Nathanaël and Sabrina help me out."

Adrien relaxed at that. He preferred Nathanaël's sense of style to Chloé's and, while Sabrina had _no_ sense of style, she did comprehend such things as schedules and budgets. She'd keep the other two from being too extravagant.

"Now, where was I?" Chloé pondered.

"Flowers," Flittig prompted from her dish of candied flower petals.

"Right. What are her favorite flowers? On second thought, never mind. I don't want you to mess that up either."

"Hey!" Adrien knew what his Lady's favorite flowers were, thank you very much!

"But we still need flowers. Ah! You're going to take her to Parc de Bagatelle. The botanical gardens should be in full bloom or close enough right now. Even better, there's no reservations you need to worry about losing. Just make sure you have the ring in your pocket and pop the question. And enough money to get you both inside but that last bit shouldn't be a problem for you."

Adrien wasn't certain if he wanted to roll his eyes or thank her for coming up with an idea for him. To be fair, feeling like she'd just steamrollered him had always been a common feature in their relationship.

"Well, I guess it's worth a try," Adrien conceded.

"Great. Let me know once you're done proposing and ready to set a wedding date."

* * *

The Parc de Bagatelle was normally a romantic setting. The botanical gardens were heavily laden with late spring blossoms, there were archways, a pond, and even an adorable little Chinese pagoda. Marinette had very fond memories of that pagoda. However, if Marinette had known this was Adrien's intended destination for the day, she would've steered him to someplace else. She was certain he'd never been there before or he'd have known about the birds.

"Achoo!"

Marinette gave a fondly exasperated look at her date, who had stubbornly refused to leave once they got there even as they skirted another peacock.

"You know, this place isn't really the best for romance if your date is allergic to feathers," she pointed out yet again.

He gave her a sheepish look and a muffled, "Sorry," from behind the handkerchief he had pressed to his nose. He still wasn't turning back. In fact, he strode determinedly on. At this rate, they'd have to make the full circuit because it would take just as long to go back as to go forward. Rolling her eyes, Marinette came to a stop and folded her arms across her chest.

"Seriously, Adrien, don't make yourself miserable just because you think it'll make me happy, because it's _not_."

Adrien paused, looked at the their location close to the pond, and then shrugged and said, "This is a good spot."

"A good spot for what?" Marinette asked with a frown. She had her suspicions this was related to what was going on with Adrien as well as an idea as to what exactly that was. But first... "And did you know that we're being followed by a man with a hidden camera?"

"Wait, what?"

That was a no, Marinette decided as she turned and stalked towards the very surprised-looking man who started to fumble with his camera and the newspaper he'd cut a hole into to hide it. Ignoring Adrien calling her name, she started in on the man. She hated paparazzi.

"What do you think you're doing? Haven't you ever heard of privacy? Just because someone's famous doesn't mean they don't deserve some time to themselves! Honestly, why are you even following us? I thought our weekly dates stopped being news years ago."

"I, uh, waah!"

The paparazzi stumbled backwards and tripped over the peacock that they had skirted earlier and had been slowly trailing them, probably in hope of bread crumbs. The bird let out a horrible noise and did its best to take flight in an attempt to escape from the man who'd fallen on it. It didn't get terribly high nor terribly far, smacking right into Adrien, who fell backwards with a sneeze. In fact, he fell right down the embankment and into the pond. A startled honk came from the pond followed by a lot of hissing. Adrien, soaking wet and trying to scream and sneeze at the same time, came tearing right back up, chased by a bevy of angry swans.

"Adrien!" Marinette cried, horrified. A picture of her trying to rescue her boyfriend from the swans ended up in every gossip rag in the city by the next day.

* * *

Adrien put a newspaper with the picture of him running from the swans and the headline, 'City Officials Discuss Making Parc de Bagatelle Safer!' down with a groan.

"How many proposals can I screw up?" he asked rhetorically before actually asking the person he was sitting at the table with, "And I'm starting to run out of ideas. I don't suppose you have any?"

"I've always thought Notre Dame made a romantic backdrop," Nathanaël admitted even as he coaxed the purple butterfly on his finger onto his shoulder. Adrien very carefully did his best not to think about Evillustrator's 'date' with Marinette even as he hoped Nathanaël didn't accidentally suggest copying it. It wasn't Nathanaël's fault he couldn't remember the incident, after all.

"That's the big, fancy building in the center of the city, right?" Nooroo asked his Chosen's Champion. Nathanaël nodded. Nooroo diplomatically said, "It's a very nice building."

"But Chloé says she told you flowers," Sabrina reminded as she set down the tea set and made the white butterflies surrounding them swarm. She made a point in serving her kwami first followed by the butterflies before giving Adrien and Nathanaël their cups.

"There's flowers near Notre Dame," Nathanaël pointed out. "It's too late for the cherry blossoms in Square Jean XXIII but Square René Viviani should be blooming."

"Oh, yes! But it would have to be early in the day or it will be too crowded," Sabrina agreed even as she took Nathanaël's free hand in her own.

Adrien politely ignored their clasped hands. He had no clue what the relationship between those two and Chloé was and had long since decided that as long as everyone was healthy and happy, it wasn't any of his business. And they were happy. Being Mariposa and forced to delegate work to others had done wonders for Sabrina even as being shoved into the spotlight as her preferred Champion had done just as much for Nathanaël. Although it might have helped that being Bee was precisely what Chloé had needed to grow up into a decent, hard-working person who actually respected the people around her.

"No birds?" Adrien asked just to make sure.

"Pigeons but no worse than anywhere else in the city," Sabrina replied with a shrug of one shoulder.

Adrien considered it. Public place so no need to worry about reservations he could lose, no devil birds to avoid, no bridges to fall off of, and it was a romantic setting. There was a risk of paparazzi but no more than other location they'd been to. Aside from that, he couldn't think of anything that his bad luck could ruin about it, not as long as he made sure the ring was in his pocket.

"Alright. Sounds good. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

* * *

Marinette absolutely refused to budge from bed before her normal wake-up time. When Adrien had tried to rouse her anyway, she'd retaliated by dragging him down onto the bed and holding him tight enough that it would be difficult to escape. Not that he necessarily wanted to.

Adrien instead had let her cuddle him like a teddy bear until she woke up. The time spent in her arms and the expression on her face once she woke up enough to realize what she'd done was worth it. The only downside was that Square René Viviani was a bit more crowded than he'd like it to be for a proposal. Oh well. At least there didn't seem to be any birds or paparazzi.

They were walking hand-in-hand, fingers entwined, and Marinette kept giving him searching looks every time Adrien fiddled with his pocket to make sure the ring was still there. He'd just decided they were in as private a spot as they could get when a man rudely bumped into him hard enough to knock him into Marinette.

"Hey!" Marinette yelled at the man's rapidly retreating back, angry the way she always was in the face of an injustice. It was a beautiful sight but Adrien decided to curb her ire before she decided Ladybug needed to give a lecture on manners.

"It's alright, Princess. No harm done," he assured her even as he pulled her towards him. No doubt remembering what happened their last date, she grimaced and let him pull her into an embrace. Adrien smiled and automatically felt for the ring in his pocket. He froze, blood draining from his face.

"Adrien?" Marinette asked in a worried tone. "What's wrong?"

The ring wasn't in his pocket any more and Adrien couldn't even begin to explain that without giving everything away, not if he didn't want to ruin the surprise.

"HEY! Stop him! Thief!"

Both of them instinctively turned and witnessed the man who'd just bumped into them running away from an irate older woman, her large and brilliantly colored bag dangling from his shoulder. Adrien met Marinette's eyes, could see they were on the same page, right before they both dove for the nearest available cover. Ladybug and Chat Noir were soon in pursuit.

The thief was either a professional and thus extremely paranoid or had caught sight of them because he ran right into a crowded bus right before it took off down it's route.

"Tch!" Ladybug expressed her displeasure before wrapping an arm around Chat Noir's shoulders and commanding, "Get us on that bus, kitty cat."

"Right away, my Lady. One ride on the Chat Noir Express coming right up!"

He wrapped his left arm around her waist, pressing her delightfully close, even as he used his right to support them on his baton. A quick calculation of speeds and angles once they were high enough later and they were hitting the roof of the bus in a roll. The bus screeched to a stop, the driver no doubt a veteran of the old akuma attack days, and their quarry shot off the vehicle. He got maybe twenty feet before Ladybug casually lassoed him.

"You know, it would've been harder to find you in a crowd if you weren't still wearing the purse you stole," Ladybug stated as she relieved the thief of said accessory only to squeak adorably when a little dog poked their head out of the purse and licked her nose.

"Considering how much a _purr_ -bred Pomeranian can cost, I think it's safe to say our guy here is a bit more than a petty thief," Chat Noir noticed even as he patted down the tied-up perp, "As do these."

"Jewelry? Wait. Wedding rings. What kind of jerk steals people's wedding rings?" Ladybug demanded. The dog barked. "See! She agrees with me."

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! Can I have a moment of your time?" a lady asked as she ran up. Chat Noir blinked when he recognized the lady from the square. She then pulled out a badge, revealing she was an undercover detective.

"There's been a lot of dog-nappings going on recently. Unfortunately, the police don't have time to actually do much about it, so I get called in. I specialize in finding lost pets, especially ones that get stolen. Mitzi here is my little decoy. Oh, yes, you are." The last bit was said to the dog, who was excitedly licking her owner. Realizing she had been in the middle of talking to two superheroes, the woman blushed and continued.

"Sorry. Anyway, Mitzi here has a tracking device on her."

"And we interrupted your sting operation when we rescued her," Chat Noir realized.

"A bit, but if I could get your help? I've been getting the impression this current kidnapping ring involves a bit more than an illegal puppy mill and I could use some assistance."

Chat Noir didn't even have to look at his Lady to know her decision, even as he surreptitiously put a certain ring back in his pocket. She loved animals.

"Of course we'll help."

* * *

After far too many hours, working both with the police to make sure the man they caught got processed as well as the pet detective to shut down a gang that made money on the side off of an illegal dog-fighting ring and puppy mill, Ladybug and Chat Noir found themselves on top of the Arc de Triomphe just in time to catch the sunset.

"Well, that wasn't how I expected to spend Date Night," Chat Noir lamented.

"No, but I'm glad we managed to help all of those poor dogs."

"Yeah, just... dogs. Why'd it have to be dogs? And who thought putting a black cat in the middle of them was a good idea?"

"You said you weren't hurt!"

"I wasn't," he quickly assured her. Not wanting to dwell on the fact that their plan had involved him acting as a distraction by getting captured and tossed into the dog-fighting pit alongside some very vicious animals, Chat Noir decided to change the subject.

"I just want you to pay attention to me," he whined even as he rubbed against her like he was actually a cat.

"Aw, poor kitty. Are you feeling neglected?" Ladybug cooed before scratching behind his ear and making him melt into a purring puddle. She giggled at him and sat so he could put his head in her lap while she continued to pet his hair. They stayed like that until the sun was hidden beyond the horizon.

"Wedding rings."

Chat Noir stiffened at Ladybug's words.

"The rest may have been focused on the dogs but the opportunist who got us involved also went after wedding rings. And you were also fiddling with your pocket up until he bumped into you. So... is there a ring in police custody I need to know about?"

"Actually, no," Chat stated even as he realized that this was probably the best opportunity he'd had all month. He rolled off of her and into a kneeling position only to see it didn't quite work with her sitting on the roof next to him.

"Um, can you stand up?" he asked.

Ladybug hopped up with a smile and Chat Noir felt his heart start to pound. This was happening. This was finally actually happening. He had the ring, it was a romantic location, his Lady was standing in front of him with an expectant look, and there was no Plagg or birds or paparazzi to ruin it.

"Ladybug, I love you. You're everything I could ever want and more. I'd die for you. More importantly, I'd live for you. I'd stay by your side forever if you'd allow it and I'd like to declare that fact to the whole world. Will you-"

"HEY! THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA!"

Chat Noir froze and then wilted as the night security guard rushed into view only to come to an abrupt stop when he recognized the couple he'd just caught in a certain position.

"Oh, uh. It's you. Never mind. Carry on."

Ladybug, who had been looking suspiciously shiny-eyed, now just looked severely put out.

"Actually, we were just leaving," she stated with a stiff smile. "Have a good night. Come on, Chat."

Chat Noir followed her silently over the rooftops until he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Ladybug," he called as he came to a halt on a flat roof. She continued for a few more feet before stopping as well.

For a moment, the space between them felt unassailable.

"I'm sorry," Chat Noir blurted out.

"What are you sorry for?" Ladybug asked with a look of genuine confusion.

"I'm sorry. I just... I keep trying to make things _perfect_ \- you deserve as much - but everything keeps going wrong. I guess... if I could be lucky enough to have you, then my bad luck has to show up somewhere. But it's like the harder I try, the worse it gets. It's just... I _really_ wanted to propose to you tonight."

Chat Noir would have said more except Ladybug pressed a finger to his lips.

"Shh. I know," she whispered.

"You do? How?" Chat Noir replied, blinking. She nodded with a bashful smile.

"Well, I suspected after the bridge incident and I knew for sure after the whole thing with the swans. You didn't take the ring out of your pocket before I took your clothes to be cleaned. I decided to let you try one more time and when this morning happened, well... I decided that if your bad luck struck again, I'd just have to have a backup plan in place."

"Wait, what?"

Ladybug just smirked at him and turned with a quiet, "Let's just say I took the liberty to send a few texts while I was recharging Tikki earlier. Follow me, kitten."

He did so - he'd never had a problem with following her lead - and was surprised when he recognized her parents' bakery as the destination. Ladybug made sure there was no one around before leaping to the balcony at the top and transforming back to Marinette before gesturing for him to do the same. He quickly did so and thus it was Adrien who observed the scene set out before him.

The balcony's air was heavy with fragrance from the flowers that lined the railings and everything was lit by twinkling fairy lights. Marinette was fiddling with something in the corner covered by the canopy and soon soft music began to play, which made Adrien smile even as his attention was mostly taken up by the centerpiece.

At some point the lounge chair had been replaced by a wrought iron table and matching chairs, said chairs sporting obviously hand-made cushions to soften their seats. On the table itself was a pyramid of macarons in dusty pink and soft green, the ones he'd always privately thought of as their colors, his and Marinette's. Adrien then abruptly sat in one of the chairs when he realized that, one, the macarons were stamped with his and Marinette's initials and, two, there was a man's ring in braided platinum and rose gold, a perfect match to the one in his pocket, sitting on the macaron at the top of the pile.

"You... I... How?"

"You kept the receipt so it wasn't hard to find the jeweler... or to convince him I was there to pick up the wedding and promise rings he'd finished," Marinette explained with a grin as she plucked the ring from off the top of the macarons. Adrien gasped in a breath when she then proceeded to kneel in front of him.

"I fell in love with a boy kind enough to offer an umbrella to a girl who didn't even respond to his apology and again for the alley cat who was always there for me. Chat Noir. Adrien. You're my other half. I can't imagine a future without you. I don't want to. So... Will you marry me?"

The lights seemed to be flashing and his head felt like it was swimming. Oh, wait, that was because he was crying. How embarrassing. That didn't stop him from babbling out, "Yes! Yesyesyes!"

Adrien didn't even realize he was moving until his lips collided with hers and his weight unbalanced her. Grateful he already had his hands behind her head when they hit the deck, Adrien pulled back with a sheepish grin and an apology on his lips. Marinette swallowed said apology by locking their lips back together. She stopped soon after with a whine.

"Quit smiling, you stupid cat. I'm trying to kiss you."

"I'm sorry. I can't help it. We're engaged!"

"Mmhm."

"We're going to get married!"

"Mmhm."

"Oh! I still have your ring in my pocket. Can I... put it on you?" Adrien asked, suddenly feeling shy. Marinette grinned at him.

"After I put this one on you." She then grabbed his left hand and slid the ring she was still holding on to his ring finger. Adrien blushed and bounced and grinned and somehow managed to fumble her ring onto her left ring finger. Then he more than willingly let Marinette pull him into another kiss.

The music clicked off, letting the click of a camera sound shockingly loud. That was the moment Adrien realized the flashes of light he'd been experiencing weren't the fairy lights twinkling too hard nor from Marinette's kisses. He abruptly pulled back, alarmed at the thought of paparazzi intruding on this moment.

"Don't worry! It's just me!" Tikki called, waving from behind a camera on a tripod. Plagg was somewhere behind her, pointedly ignoring them while he gnawed his way through a plate of cheese. "I've gotten some great shots!"

Adrien let out a relieved laugh.

"I'm sorry. I should've warned you but I wanted a picture like Maman and Papa have," Marinette admitted. Adrien pressed his forehead to hers and looked her in the eye.

"I'll admit, I wanted one too, even if this isn't how I pictured it." Then he smirked and stated, "You do know that this means we'll have to start a photo album like theirs too, right?"

"I know. I'm looking forward to it."

FIN

* * *

Notes: Poor catson finally got his happy ending. ^_^

The title is obviously from the nursery rhyme about trees. You know, "first comes love, then comes marriage".

 _N_ _ă_ _inai_ is Chinese for grandmother.

Flittig is Danish for diligent/hardworking/industrious. I thought it was a fitting name for our currently unnamed Bee kwami.

The rings are based off of wire jewelry. If you want an idea of what they should look like, do an image search for wire wedding rings, wire woven rings, or this guy's site: handwovenbands dot com/ Think a four-part loose braid in two colors.

Finally, people really do steal dogs for things like dog-fighting and forcible breeding. Pomeranian puppies are some of the most expensive with I Heart Dogs putting them up to $3,000 apiece. If you get a dog, especially a pure-bred, make sure you can trace where it came from, even if you're not into that sort of stuff. If you don't, chances are you got someone else's pet or one of their pups. And don't think mixed breeds aren't at risk; they're just more likely to have an even worse ending.


End file.
